Musicians band together for dogs

Cayman’s musicians got together recently at the Petapalooza music festival in support of the Cayman Islands Humane Society.

With nine local bands performing on Saturday, 18 June, from 3pm to after 11pm at a free concert at The Doghouse at Grand Harbour, the event was a hit among local music fans and animal lovers alike.

The day’s musical festivities kicked off with the E Z Street band, followed by the Jeff Alban Experience, Vanguard, Dr. E and the Dirty Dogs, Every Other Minute, Clever Knots, and Core, before the event organiser Reno Ciantar took to the stage with his band Suckerbox at 10pm. Suite Elite closed out the evening’s proceedings when they took to the stage at 11pm.

“Despite other events being held on that day the turnout was bigger and better than last year. All participants, bands and patrons enjoyed the music under the stars and against all odd the rain held off,” said Jackie Stirling of the Cayman Islands Humane Society.

Funds were raised through the sale of various items at the event, with Ms Stirling reporting that the T-shirt sales brought in good revenue, as did the dog biscuit treats from Love You Dog.

Another unique fundraising initiative was the dog tail painting, which drew a lot of interest and managed to bring in some revenue and donations as well. Of course, the activity was more suited to some dogs than others, with those sporting a long, fluffy tail doing much better than stumpy-tailed creatures.

The Humane Society also received a significant boost from the Cayman Islands Brewery.

“Caybrew kindly donated all their takings for the event and this was a generous donations and greatly appreciated,” said Ms Stirling.

A new feature of the event this year was a Bingo evening held at the Doghouse on the Friday evening drew a large crowd that went home with some fantastic prizes, including tickets for two on Cayman Airways.

According to organiser Reno Ciantar, the event has raised $43,000 since its inception in 2007 and it was hoped that this year’s edition could set a new record by raising $25,000.

Although the event was very well supported, it did not manage to raise as much money as last year, something that the Humane Society had really been hoping to achieve to help them deal with all the animals housed at the shelter on North Sound Road.

“The Humane Society would like to thank the organisers Reno Ciantar and John Mack and all sponsors and especially the nine live rock bands that were fabulous,” said Ms Stirling.

The E Z Street Band opened proceedings at Petapalooza. – Photos: Eugene Bonthuys